1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to flat foldable paper tray having a set of fold lines inscribed therein along which the tray is bent to form a package in which to carry any one of a variety of food products, such as a baked goods, or the like. By virtue of the foregoing, a food product can be first cooked and then shipped displayed, sold and consumed within the same package to streamline the production and distribution process.
2. Background Art
Many food products intended for consumption are purchased by consumers and carried home from a place of purchase in a package. For example, it is common for baked goods to be packaged and wrapped prior to their sale. Typically, the product is first cooked in a metal base or similar cooking vessel which must be greased prior to receipt of the dough. Once the cooked product has cooled, it is removed from the cooking base and relocated to a package of the kind in which the product is sold and carried home by the consumer. The cooking base is then cleaned, dried and prepped for reuse.
The requirement for different containers in which to cook and then package the finished product for sale results in an inefficient production and distribution process. That is to say, time and labor must be devoted to transfer the product from its cooking base to a retail package and then to clean and ready the base. Time may also be wasted while waiting for the cooked product to cool before being removed from the cooking base. As a consequence of the foregoing, the cost to produce a finished baked product ready for sale is increased, which cost is usually passed on to the consumer. What is more, the bakery and/or the retail store must continuously keep on hand supplies of cooking vessels and packaging which, for large bakeries and retail chains, are known to consume valuable space. Some of the packaging may not be used until after a long delay or not at all. In this case, the packaging may ultimately be discarded to reduce space consumption.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a more efficient and less costly means for making, packaging and distributing cooked (e.g., baked) products from production to consumption.